Automation and data management technologies top marketing tech list
- 25 August, 2014 11:54
Almost all marketers are looking to implement marketing automation or data management in the next 12 months as they come to terms with the increasingly complex marketing landscape, a new report claims.
The Oracle Marketing Cloud report was based on a survey of 96 marketers attending the recent ADMA Global Forum in Sydney and found 91 per cent are looking to implement either marketing automation or data management solutions into their marketing strategy.
In addition, 52 per cent are leveraging cloud technology to support the marketing function and 30 per cent plan to implement cloud technology by 2017.
The report also illustrated the rising stature of marketing inside organisations today and found 44 per cent of marketers had seen their teams increase in the past 12 months. Just over half of respondents also anticipate their marketing budgets to rise over the coming year.
Among the most popular new technology tools marketers plan to implement to assist them are social solutions (62 per cent) and cross-channel marketing (54 per cent).
Across the board, 98 per cent of respondents saw the current role of marketing as highly complex, and expected the interdependency between technology and marketing to increase in the next three years. Eighty-three per cent described the role of marketing as challenging, and 15 per cent labelled it ‘rocket science’.
“While the survey findings highlight increasing complexities in the role, the increasing ability of marketing to drive business growth is significant, and this is why we can expect to see marketing budgets rising and teams growing,” Oracle vice-president of customer success, Paul Cross, commented.
“Knowing how to use data can be viewed as complex, however, the survey findings demonstrate that savvy marketers are looking to new tools which allow them to further innovate while also achieving greater marketing simplicity.”
The latest CMO Council <i>State of Marketing</i> report also found the majority of CMOs to be confident in both marketing’s position as a revenue driver as well as their own c-level position. In that survey, 55 per cent were found to be planning headcount additions and 54 per cent expected budget increases.
Despite this, challenges remain particularly around technology and data knowledge. For example, only 6 per cent believe they are leading big data management, and most are overwhelmed with the rising number of digital marketing technology solutions.
CMO TV: Highlights from the ADMA Global Forum 2014
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